Three cases of false-negative cerebrospinal fluid latex agglutination test results for patients with culture-positive cryptococcal meningitis are reported. False-negative results occurred in settings of low cryptococcal antigen concentrations in cerebrospinal fluid and were dependent on the latex agglutination test kit used. Investigation of each case revealed that prozone phenomena or interfer...

Of the first 128 patients to receive either heart or heart and lung transplants at Papworth Hospital, four developed Toxoplasma gondii infections acquired from the donor heart and two died. Six patients had passively acquired T gondii antibody as a result of blood transfusions around the time of transplantation. Eight patients developed antibodies against T gondii, which were detectable by chan...

A rapid technique for the immunological identification of group B streptococci in vaginal swabs is reported. Vaginal swabs obtained from 567 pregnant women at term or during labor were incubated for eight hrs in Todd Hewitt broth containing 15 micrograms per ml nalidixic acid, one microgram per ml polymixin, and 0.1 microgram per ml crystal violet (NPC broth). After streaking the swabs on blood...

women attending a genitourinary medicine clinic. T vaginalis infection was diagnosed in 42 (11%) women. The sensitivities ofboth the latex agglutination test and the ELISA were 95% compared with 74% for microscopy and 76% for culture. The latex test was specific and showed no cross reaction with a wide range of other genital tract infections. The latex agglutination test can detect antigen in b...

Fibrinogen antigens were measured either with an agglutination inhibition method (using latex particles coated with fibrinogen; Diagen test) or with a direct agglutination technique (using latex particles coated with a mixture of anti-D and anti-E antibodies; Thrombo-Wellcotest). Both methods were compared with the tanned red cell haemagglutination inhibition immunoassay (TRCHII) during progres...

Latex immunoassay is a nonisotopic method based on agglutination, by protein, of calibrated latex particles coated with a specific antibody. The assay has been automated in a simple continuous-flow system by incubating the reaction mixture in a heated mixing coil for 25 min and measuring the agglutination with a cell counter. No external shaking of the latex suspension and no additional reagent...

A newly developed latex agglutination assay for the detection of genus-specific Leptospira antibodies in human sera was evaluated. The assay is performed by mixing, on an agglutination card, serum with equal volumes of stabilized antigen-coated, dyed test and control latex beads and is read within 2 min. The latex agglutination test was evaluated with groups of serum samples from patients with ...

Vaginal swabs from women who on clinical evidence were thought to have vaginal candidosis were examined for yeasts by conventional laboratory methods (microscopy and culture) and also assayed for Candida antigens using a rapid (3 min) slide latex particle agglutination tests. Results showed that a diagnosis of vaginal candidosis based on clinical criteria alone is unreliable: only half of the w...

The Wellcogen Haemophilus influenzae b, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Neisseria meningitidis (ACYW135) latex agglutination tests (Wellcome Diagnostics, Dartford, England) were evaluated as methods to detect bacterial antigens in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), urine, and serum from patients with meningitis or sepsis. Antigen was detected in 92% of CSFs from H. influenzae b, 100% of CSFs from N. meni...

AIM To develop and test a new latex slide agglutination test (MPO-LSAT) to detect antimyeloperoxidase (anti-MPO) antibody in serum. METHODS Latex bead coating was adjusted to give maximum sensitivity by attending to latex size, MPO to latex ratio for coupling, ratio of diluted serum to MPO-latex, reaction time and temperature for coupling, and reaction time for agglutination. Inhibition studi...